EVE Technology Lab

If you want to make websites - sure. Learn HTML, CSS, Javascript and some scripting language, like PHP or Python.

definitely sounds like your trying to learn how to bot Eve

good luck sir but this is one guy bowing out of the conversation before the "Ban Hammer" comes down

It will allow you to get banned pretty fast.

Don't worry about it... Up near the top of the thread is a post by CCP Foxfour, he is the main guy at CCP updating and maintaining both the API and CREST data interfaces. He suggested Python... Shameless plug from me because I really like it too, it just seems to work like you expect it to. There are also libraries that you can import into your app for doing just about anything you can imagine. He pointed you to the main one in Python for working with the Eve API.

I will differ with most of the other advice and suggest you start with a desktop app. If you go with a web app you have to add learning all the infrastructure behind web apps, web hosting, deployment, etc. Also HTML, CSS, Javascript most likely. I think a desktop app gets you up and doing something useful with Eve more quickly. Good stuff to learn eventually but you don't need it to be productive with Eve.

I focus mainly on trading using a library that makes it easy to use Excel for the user interface and Python for all the code: https://github.com/ericremoreynolds/excelpython/releases This way you can focus on finding the data and manipulating it rather than the presentation. I've found that figuring out the UI can take as long or longer than the core functionality of the app... When I want to add new functionality, like showing all the contracts on my alts, I add a new tab and dump the data there while using Excel to make it look pretty (set calculation to manual though). I am also writing all the code in a modular way, that way when I do go with a desktop app with a UI or a web app, the code can drop in. In fact I've already peeled off part of the spreadsheet into a small standalone app.

If you do want to stay with a web app, check out Flask:
http://flask.pocoo.org/
http://www.fullstackpython.com/flask.html

Programming is not part of my day job, but since starting with Python I've written a bunch of little apps that scratch an itch and have been picked up by a bunch of people at work...

Good luck (and don't bot :)

Hmmn... I was learning Cobol in high school before at least he was born so it certainly isn't a young man's game

As a little more context, I am an electrical engineer so while I have had my fingers in programming for a long time it hasn't been a core part of how I spend my days. I looked at Java when I wanted to leave VB6 behind for my itch scratching projects but my god it is verbose; type, type, type... The I found Python and never looked back. In the US, Python is replacing Java as the first language taught in high schools and universities. It is also cross platform, PC, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi (Linux), etc., though to be honest you have to be careful which libraries you pick if that is a requirement (probably true for Java too).

By desktop app I mean a standalone program that you either invoke from a command line or double click an icon to launch. (BTW I mostly work in Windows) At work I have packaged up some of my utilities into exe files that people use just like any other Windows app. I also create small batch files so I don't have to open a command window and type anything :) Excel kind of counts as a desktop app where each tab generally serves a different function.

I'm using Excel almost exclusively as a user interface; I didn't want to spend time coding and tweaking a UI for most things. Basically as I add functionality to the spreadsheets I am figuring out what info I need to put in, how to display the info that I get back from CCP/Eve Central most effectively, etc. Another for instance, I make a list of the BPs I want to manufacture from, how many units to build, etc. When I "run" the code behind that tab of the spreadsheet, it gets the ME for the BP (from CCP), figures out what is needed to build the item (thanks Steve Ronuken), looks up the cost of the components from Jita, Dodi, Amarr and Hek, gets the sell prices at the hubs and shows the amount of profit. I use this to figure out what to build (it also makes an IGB shopping list for the supplies). You can do this (mostly) with Google Docs spreadsheets which is probably more common but with Python and Excel you have total control and the code is reusable.

In the aggregate, I can't say that this is "easy" to do but that is true no matter what language you pick. I think my approach pares it down to learning the minimum to get started and then you can add the other stuff (GUI/web/mobile) as you get the basics under control and are seeing useful results. Otherwise it is easy to take too big a bite and totally stall. Of course it has a strong dependency on Excel but a quick search says it is easy to connect Python and Libre Office for instance: https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=71532

So.... working through my Codecadamy lessons and figured I'd do a little pre-read of the course material I've signed up for with Coursera.

First thing he says.... "So, I hope you've downloaded Python and had a look around...."

Go figure..... why would I have done that

Anyhows. I've gone to download it and there are multiple versions. I've read that Python 2 or 3 is what I should be downloading and that 3 is the way forward, but it depends on what I'm using it for.

If I'm interacting with the EvE databases can I use no.3?

Regards

Barrak

I think this is partly where the misunderstanding is coming in.

When I say interact, I mean like all the other trading programs out there. EvE-Central, Evernus etc etc.

Perhaps I should have just asked the simple question. Which one? 2 or 3?

I think the course I'm going to be following is version 2 but what does EvE/API/EvE Central/ whatever else use?

Edit:
*Just realised (again) that EvErnus is yours*

Acckkkkk, I just have to pop in, I'll get back to your other questions later Barrak.

Python is a proper mainstream language!!!! It is by no stretch of the imagination a niche language!!!! Everything in Python is an object*!!!!

Sigh...

* http://www.diveintopython.net/getting_to_know_python/everything_is_an_object.html

PS One of my work utilities, it doesn't use Excel, it is a standalone application distributed as an exe, just like EVEMon, pyfa (written in Python) or EFT
http://i.imgur.com/KTCvFyd.png

As you can tell I didn't spend much time on the UI, it is in tkinter which is built into Python. I use it for very basic UIs and wxPython for more complex UIs. I know about QT, tried to use it but it doesn't appear to play nicely with virtualenvs which I really, really like.

PPS https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-famous-software-written-in-python they do mention Eve btw

If you're looking at using Python, I would suggest looking at Entity's API wrapper. Much simpler, and nicer, than evelink. (In my opinion)

https://github.com/ntt/eveapi

He also has nice documentation that shows how the code works, and how to use it.

Thank you for your input!

In relation to your question. I don't foresee a career in coding. I'm fairly senior in my current sector (apart from being out of work currently) and do not wish to start at the bottom in another sector (at least at this stage).

However I've always got ideas bouncing around in my head on how various systems could be improved within the work environment. Couple that to a love for this game and wanting to use tools to compare various markets and then slowly step into industry.

My main issues around doing that with what is already out there is that I love designing my own things and have a few trust issues . Thus if I can design something that works for me that noone else can access then I'd be delighted.

During my reading recently on the topic I've read alot about the Raspberry Pi's and there are a ton of projects I'd like to give ago around that too.

So.... I don't envisage a career changing move (unless I happen to be a complete natural at it ). But I can definitely see a use for it myself.

Hopefully that answers your question..... in a roundabout way.

Regards

Barrak